Tricerahops Double IPA | Ninkasi Brewing Company

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22oz bottle, a souvenir from a trip through Idaho earlier this summer.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, sediment-suspended medium golden amber hue, with two fingers of foamy, rocky pale beige head, with settles slowly, showing off a nicely consistent webbed pattern of lace for its efforts.

It smells of pine oil and sharp white grapefruit and navel orange citrus peel, so pleasingly familiar, over a decent, if unassertive, supporting caramel malt, and an echo of soft booziness. The taste is citrus, pine, and herbal-dominated hops, in cahoots with the same less than thrilling, somewhat caramelized, somewhat bready maltiness. As for the 8 points of alcohol, they sure don't assert themselves much, and to great acclaim.

The carbonation comes off as a bit less than the typical, average zing, which results in an adequately smooth, and airily creamy body, the hovering hops not really interfering with this notion. It finishes off-dry, to be sure, though not overly so, the latent malt merely doing a bang-up job of countering the weakening hoppiness.

A fairly enjoyable brew, with more IPA tendencies, than those of a DIPA, which I suppose speaks well of the whole affair, given that little of the quite elevated ABV shines through. If you can ignore the minor herbal character, drink at will, especially if you are blessed with the friendly grocery-store pricing.

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, no bottle dating. Pours fairly hazy golden orange color with a nice 2 finger dense off white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Some good spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas of big orange zest, grapefruit, pineapple, floral, pine, caramel, honey, bread, and a decent bit of alcohol. Some pretty good aromas, with good strength and balance. Taste of huge orange, pineapple, grapefruit, pine, floral, caramel, honey, bread, and herbal spiciness. Decent amount of spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of orange, pineapple, grapefruit, floral, pine, caramel, honey, and herbal on the finish for a good bit. Great citrus flavor balance with piney bitterness. Maltiness is slightly stronger. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a nice creamy and slightly slick mouthfeel. Alcohol is well hidden with only a slight warming after the finish noticed. Quite smooth to drink but is still a bit of a sipper. Overall this is a great DIPA! Great hop flavor balance and smoothness; and extremely enjoyable to sip on.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy amber color with a thick, rocky head that leaves quite a few shards of lace behind

Smell: Citrusy and piney, with a biscuity base underneath

Taste: Biscuity up front, with a similar malt profile to Total Domination; quickly the pithy and piney hops kick in, and here is where the beer diverges from its sibling as it is less fruity but much more pithy and bitter; after the swallow, the hops dominate, with a hint of residual sugar and mint on the tip of the tongue at the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body, slightly syrupy, with moderate carbonation

Drinkability: I prefer the more balanced approach of Total Domination to this beer, but still, it is a nice example of the style

Amber colored with a hazy, unfiltered body. The head is lasting and sticky, slightly off-white.

The nose is signature Pacific Northwest IPA, an even mix of bready, slightly caramelized malt and citrusy, grapefruit and orange hoppiness. There's a touch of tropical fruit as well.

It's bready and bitter on the tongue, medium bodied, quite flavorful. Grapefruit and pine hop flavors are prominent, but there's an undertone of tropical fruit. The finish is resiny, grapefruit-like, mildly astringent. Pretty solid stuff, but by no means great.

Pours a light fizzy head covering clear but with tons of sediment orange golden honey colored.

Nose has some nice hops, nothing too heavy, a bit of citrus and fruit hops, a slight orange zest and some pine, a touch of musty hop resin, and a slight malty sweetness underneath.

Taste starts a bit malty, a slight malty sweetness, but pretty much all pale malts, then some bitterness, fairly bitter but not too heavy, and plenty of hops, mostly bittering hops, but it does bring a bit of pine, fresh musty resinous hop flavors, some orange peel, some citrus, quite a bit or rind, but also a bit soapy and has a slight astringent finish, that doesn't dry as much as I would expect, and leaves itself a little sticky. The astringent and heavy bittering hops add a slight metallic tinge as well. Overall seems to be mostly bittering hops and left out on the aroma an hop flavors more, and what is there for flavor isn't as sharp as it should be, seems muted and flat.

Mouth is medium bodied with lower carbonation.

Drink is OK, not great, hits with just a touch of warming booze, a bit sticky on the finish, and some astringent bittering hops on the finish, as well as a slight metallic twang.